Abstract

National and international studies have shown that girls drop out of school less frequently, stay longer in the education system, have more linear educational paths and achieve better school and academic results than boys. Based on ethnographic research conducted in a school in the well-known Neapolitan suburb of Scampia, we intend to explore the social, relational and symbolic dynamics underlying the ‘female advantage’ at school. We highlight how in the most marginal and de-qualified segments of the school field, where conflictual practices end up representing the core of everyday life in the classroom, the manner in which girls perform their femininity is consistent with institutional expectations. In contrast, the ways of performing the masculine are traced back to a cultural and symbolic universe considered ‘anti-scholastic’ by teachers.